Ants allegedly eat two babies to death in Cross River hospital

HEALTH

Ants allegedly eat two babies to death in Cross River hospital

 

Two out of three pre-mature babies delivered at the Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Obubra Local Government Area of Cross River State have been allegedly eaten to death by ants.

The findings revealed that the mother had a pre-term labour, this was after she fought with her neighbor in their compound.

An eyewitness, who gave her name as Antonia said, “When the babies were born, the Director General (DG) State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Betta Edu was immediately contacted.

“The DG directed that the babies and the mother be immediately transferred to a facility that has incubator, unfortunately, the General Hospital there has no such facility, so they were referred to a private hospital in Ikom,” she said.

Disappointingly, the hospital said they have no generator, the DG ordered for a generator, provided fuel for the generator and the babies were kept in the incubator in the Hospital.

It was gathered that the monies being sent for the upkeep of the children were allegedly mismanaged by the father and also the babies were allegedly neglected by the hospital such that ants got into their incubator, which led to the death of two out of the three babies.

Speaking with our correspondent on phone on Monday evening, the DG said “The mother had a pre-term labour, this was after a fight with her neighbor, when the babies were born, I was called upon because it was a Primary Heath Centre and I said, management of pre-matured babies was beyond PHC.

“So, I immediately ordered for the referral of the babies and the mother to a facility that has incubator, unfortunately, the General Hospital there do not have incubator so they were referred to a private hospital in Ikom.

“I provided fuel; clothes and several items for the up keep of the babies and the mother. Gave the father of the triplet money in case the hospital needed money for consumables and directed my friends to pay money into the father’s account and that was done by some of my friends.

“The reasons for the donation were to ensure that whenever money is required by the hospital, the father will provide. If it were to be government hospital, I know who I would have given the money, even though we were paying the hospital, we make money available.”

The money for wife’s food, according to the DG was also provided but the father of the children refused to release even N1, he held on to the money. “I kept sending my PHC coordinator to go and check and she will call me and said the wife was not giving food, the situation went on and on.

“The hospital asked him for money but he was not providing and so they left him and that was why I said the negligence comes in, at worse, the hospital should have called me or reach out to my PHC coordinator to say look we asked the father for A, B, C but he did not give.

“They did not do that so when we heard that ant stung one of them, I send my PHC coordinator there, she didn’t find the ants in the incubator, however, there was mark on one of them that an ant had stung, the mark was there and the place was red and it may not be ant, it may be mosquito or any other thing but there was no physical ant in the incubator.

“However, a day after, one of the babies died in the night and the next one died in the early hours of the following day. The babies were seven months old.

“The general expenditure from me was over N200, 000, and I directed my friends to pay to the account of the father, at least the people I know have made donation amounting to over N150, 000.

“As it is now, we have set up a investigative panel to look into the alleged negligence, if it is established that there was negligence in the part of the hospital, we will shut down the place and withdraw the practicing license and for the father, we are contacting human right activist so that they can give us right advice and legal backing.”

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Ministry Of Health To Test 2018 Hajj Pilgrims Of Lassa Fever

​BREAKING NEWS

Ministry Of Health To Test 2018 Hajj Pilgrims Of Lassa Fever

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewale, says Nigeria does not constitute a global threat to any nation due to isolated cases of Lassa fever recorded in some states in the country.

Adewale stated this at the meeting of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) with Hajj Stakeholders on Lassa fever, organised by his office in Abuja.

The Minister said that Nigeria was on the verge of being declared Lassa fever free as the country currently has only a single reported case of the disease in one week.

He said that since January this year, due to the measures put in place by the Federal Government, incidence of Lassa fever was declining, saying.

“I can tell you that in the last one week only one case was recorded in Nigeria.”

According to him, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has also confirmed that in the last eight weeks the disease is going down in Nigeria.

He assured the government would continue to work assiduously to ensure constant surveillance of disease saying “any case of fever we will test to be sure is not Lassa fever”.

He said that the Ministry of Health was building capacity of health workers to ensure quick response, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari has released fund for the upgrade of health facilities and procurement of Lassa fever drugs.

Commenting on 2018 Hajj, the Minister said all Nigerian pilgrims must be thoroughly screened before they would be allow to be transported to Saudi Arabia for Umrah or Hajj, adding no Nigerian would be allowed to travel to Saudi with Lassa fever.

Speaking Earlier, the Executive Chairman, National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Abdullahi Muhammed said Saudi Authority had mapped out strategies and precautionary steps that would ensure that no Nigerian pilgrim enters the country with anything that would cause transmission or infection of Lassa fever.

” As you are all aware of recent, there have been media reports with regards to Lassa fever in Nigeria which drew the attention of Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health and in their wisdom they mapped out some preventive measures to guard against it transmission in Saudi during hajj.”

He assured that NAHCON, as the regulatory body for Hajj and Umrah, would do whatever it takes to complement the efforts of Saudi authority in ensuring that all travellers for hajj and Umrah are free of anything that had to do with Lassa fever.

” Since this matter was brought to the attention of the commission, we quickly wrote to the SGF and draw the government attention to the precautionary measures that the Saudi Authority will take.

” In the wisdom of the SGF he decided that we should have this very important stakeholders meeting with all Commissioners for Health from 36 states of the Federation and FCT.

” The essence of this gathering is for us to map out strategies that will give comfort to the Saudi Ministry of Health and the international community that Nigerian pilgrims will not in anyway endanger the lives of other members of the community that are performing hajj or umrah,” Muhammad said.

He said that NAHCON and all State Pilgrims Welfare Boards had agreed to work together in line with the guidelines that would be issued by the Federal Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies in screening pilgrims and their luggage thoroughly.

This according to him, would make sure that pilgrims luggage did not carry any insect or animal that transmit or could cause the infection of Lassa fever.

The NAHCON boss urged Executive Secretaries and Chairmen of State pilgrims boards to rededicate themselves so that Nigeria could prove to the world that the country was not a carrier of Lassa fever.

He, therefore, said that NAHCON had resolved as a matter of priority to constitute a National Medical Team for 2018 Hajj that would work hand in hand with all the relevant agencies in the screening of pilgrims to ensure that they are medically fit to travel to Saudi.

” I want to assure our brothers in Saudi Arabia that we will not allow any of our pilgrim to endanger the lives of other nationals that will be coming for hajj or umrah.

” We understand the fears and we will work together to address the situation, “he said.

The SGF, Mr Boss Mustapha, said that the efforts put in place by the Federal Government to curtail the spread of Lassa fever was yielding good results.

Mustafa, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Special Duties, Office of SGF, Mr Olusegun Adekunle, urged Nigerians to change the narrative about the disease because it was seriously declining. (NAN)

                                                  

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